Road cleared for the 54th Annual Meeting of the African Development Bank

"When you gather your strengths, you can reach critical mbad to become a solid player on the world stage," said the press chief economist and vice president of economic governance and knowledge management. African Development Bank, Celestin Annual Meetings.

Equatorial Guinea will host the 54th Annual Meeting of the Bank, from 11 to 14 June 2019, on the theme "Regional Integration for Africa's Economic Prosperity". The meetings will bring together approximately 2000 delegates. They provide governments, businesses, civil society, think tanks, academia and the media around the world with a unique forum for dialogue on critical issues in Africa's development.

The secretary general of the Bank, Vincent Nmehielle, was the host of the press conference organized at the bank's headquarters in Abidjan. Senior management present included Vice President, Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization, Pierre Guislain; Vice President, Corporate Services and Human Resources, Mateus Magala and Gauthier Bourlard of the Bank's Resource Mobilization and Partnerships Department.

In her opening remarks, Nmehielle explained that the 2019 annual meetings are an opportunity to show why regional integration is important. "Equatorial Guinea is one of the most developed countries in Africa, but few people know it," he added.

Meetings will include statutory meetings of the Bank's governors and shareholders, as well as a series of knowledge-related events, including discussions around the African Economic Outlook, one of the flagship reports form the bank. A high-level presidential dialogue on strengthening Africa's economic integration will provide heads of state and government with an opportunity to debate issues and corrective actions to be taken to accelerate the pace of change. regional integration.

Robust conversions on regional value chains in agriculture are on the agenda of the meetings.

"Trade is and will continue to be the main driver of growth for many of our countries, with over 60% of global trade now occurring in global value chains, and we need to ensure that African economies are committed to global value chains, not just raw products, but transform goods by adding value, creating jobs locally, "said Monga.

More than 75% of Sub-Saharan African countries have less than 25 million inhabitants and about half of them have a gross domestic product (GDP) of less than US $ 10 billion in 2017 ( in nominal terms). Further integration of goods markets, infrastructure services and key factors to bring fragmented economies closer to Africa.

For Guislain, "regional integration is part of our fundamental mandate and our DNA, which has existed since its creation in 1964." An Africa without borders is the basis of a competitive continental market that could serve as a global business center, the journalists said.

With regard to the Continental Free Trade Area, which entered into force on May 30, the Bank provided the African Union Commission with the necessary basis for launching the nearly $ 5 million Secretariat.

Magala gave an update on the Compact Lusophone and explains how "it offers the opportunity to strengthen the economies of countries sharing a common language, history and culture". He also answered some questions from Portuguese-speaking journalists from Guinea Bissau and Cabo Verde.

Gauthier Bourlard, representing the Bank's Resource Mobilization and Partnerships Department, provided an update on the 15th replenishment of the African Development Fund (ADF). The ADF, the concessional arm of the Bank, seeks to increase the financing of fragile countries, focusing on cross-cutting themes such as gender, governance, climate change and the private sector. The next round of negotiations with donor countries is scheduled for early July in Madagascar before a decision is made later in the year.

Twenty-eight journalists from 21 African countries attended the press conference hosted by Mr. Victor Oladokun, the Bank's Director of Communications and External Relations. Journalists participate in a three-day sustainability information course, the first of its kind at the Bank, organized in collaboration with the Thomson Reuters Foundation.